Superstition
by JRCash
Summary: Han Solo might not believe in hokey religions, but he does believe in New Year's superstitions. One shot, holiday fluff. [Han x Leia]


_**Disclaimer:**_ _I do not own these characters. I just make them do stuff. I do not profit from this in any way, shape or form._

 _ **Author's Note:** Happy New Year! _

* * *

Leia palmed open the door to the apartment with a weary hand. Kicking off her shoes in the foyer, she didn't bother to bend down and put them in their proper place like she normally would. She stepped over her tan nerf leather flats, leaving them strewn half hazardly along with Han's mess of boots that had collected near the doorway. The week after Fete was supposed to be a rare bit of down time for her, to personally relax and recharge before the new year began. She had only agreed to go into her office on a holiday to review a few items and had expected to be back home before the afternoon was over. Instead, her visit had turned into hours of returning comm calls and an impromptu meeting that lasted well past sundown. She was exhausted from the long day she hadn't agreed for but couldn't say no to.

"Han?" Leia called out into the apartment as she made her way down the hallway towards the living area. Expecting to see him stretched on out the sofa in the same fashion she had left him in that morning, she was surprised to find Han tucked away behind the curtains that hung over the large windows that looked out upon Coruscant. He seemed engrossed with whatever he was fiddling with near the window stills.

"Han?" Leia asked again with an inquisitive look on her face as stood in the center of the room, trying to figure out what in the seven hells he was doing back there.

Emerging from behind the curtains, Han turned, letting the panels of sheer shimmer-silk fall away from his shoulders as he took a few steps towards Leia, placing a kiss against her cheek.

"Hi, Princess. Didn't hear you come home".

"What are you doing?" she inquired as she shrugged off her coat, placing it against the edge of the sofa.

"Putting credit coins on the windowsills" Han replied casually, as if the whole galaxy considered tangling themselves in curtains with a handful of credit coins the most normal of things.

Leia raised an eyebrow and stifled a giggle as she waited for a further explanation from him. She'd seen Han do plenty of things over the years, but never anything as strange as this.

"Why?"

"Cause it's New Year's Eve. Can't have bad luck".

"That's going to bring luck?" she said skeptically.

"That'll make sure we have good fortune" Han said as he pointed back to the window stills. Leia scanned the numerous windows in the living area, noticing that every single one had a carefully placed credit coin at the base of it.

Mentally adding up the number of windows they had in their apartment total, Leia smiled.

"So good fortune costs fifteen credits then? That's all it takes?" she said with a smirk.

Han let out a chuckle as he shoved his hand into his pocket, disposing of the leftover coins he had been holding on to.

"Us Corellians get superstitious about certain things. If it takes fifteen or five hundred credits, we'll try to make sure our luck stays in our favor".

* * *

Cultural differences between them had rarely come up in the years that they had known each other during the war, but spending the holidays for the first time as a couple together had.

Han never brought up his heritage much, but suddenly with the holidays around them, he seemed to be in touch with his roots more so than ever. She hadn't given it much thought until a few weeks prior when they were decorating for the holidays. Honoring her Alderaanian heritage, she had made it a point to adorn their fete tree with glittering gold and white ornaments, trying to recreate the elaborate way the trees in the palace were decorated when she was a child. She had come home one day to notice that Han had added his own additions. A garland of red and silver beads had been wound through the branches and a fake spice spider web ornament had been hung between the baubles she had so carefully arranged.

Leia wondered why that was the ornament he had chose. While never openly admitting to it, she knew Han was terrified of spice spiders.

"Why a spider web?" she asked one evening, pointing to the ornament in question. Her curiosity had finally gotten the best of her after passing the tree for days.

"Can't be our fete tree without a little something Corellian on it" Han replied casually before turning back to focus on a smash ball match he was watching.

Leia had been left wanting more of an answer. She decided to search the holonet about Corellian holiday traditions and customs, and when that only provided her with vague answers to her questions, she decided to ask Wedge Antilles if there was some deeper meaning behind Han's ornament choice.

The pilot's answer was simple. "Cause we're Corellian" he told her plainly. "Everything is either lucky or unlucky. Spice spider webs are one of the lucky things".

Satisfied enough, she had left it at that. Apparently, she should have inquired Wedge further about _all_ of their holiday traditions and superstitions.

* * *

"You hungry? You look exhausted" Han said as he sat down on the sofa next to Leia, who had already made herself comfortable with her legs folded under her and a blanket pulled across her lap.

"I am" she replied before stifling a yawn.

Han reached for his datapad on the low wooden table in front of the couch. Tapping at the screen, he handed the pad over to Leia.

Leia studied the take out menu he had pulled up. It was from the Corellian restaurant near the hangar that Han frequented on his breaks when he worked on the Falcon. She scrolled through the pages, too tired to really object to ordering from the place, even if she wasn't in the mood for spicy Corellian food.

"I think just an order of the Endorian chicken will be fine for me"

"No" Han said bluntly with a worried look on his face as he glanced over at Leia.

"No?"

Leia was confused. Han had never protested her food choices before.

"It's bad luck to eat poultry on New Year's" he replied.

Leia smirked as she handed over the data pad to Han, trying her best to not roll her eyes at such a silly superstition.

"Alright hotshot, what isn't going to curse us for the next year just because we ordered it for dinner tonight?"

"Kibla greens. Bantha sausage and salthina beans. Spice cake" he listed off.

"That all seems like it makes for a very bland meal".

Han didn't say anything as he tapped at the pad, his brow creased with concern that Leia was willing to test a year's worth of fate as he placed the order.

Noticing his expression, Leia sat up a bit.

"You really take these things seriously?"

Han shrugged. He knew in life he had somehow gotten lucky. Lucky shots, lucky escapes, lucky to still be alive at this point. Whether or not Corellian traditions played a part in any of it, he didn't know, but he hardly wished to question the whys and hows of it all ending up the way it all did.

"I guess it's just something I've always done" he said nonchalantly as he placed the data pad on the table and sat back on the couch.

Leia nodded. There were plenty of things she did that were very Alderaanian. Even if she didn't give them a second thought, they were ingrained in her.

"Are there any other superstitions I should know about?"

Han thought for a second before wrapping his arm around Leia and pulling her close. Her head rested against his chest as she lay against his side in the crook of his arm.

"Just one more. I have to kiss the person I wanna spend the rest of the year with at midnight tonight".

"And what happens if you don't?" Leia asked playfully as she looked up at Han.

"That's luck I ain't willing to mess with, sweetheart".


End file.
